Thursday, 20 October 2011

Dita Von Teese To Launch Her Debut Fragrance Femme Totale

As you may have gathered from the fact I am forever harping on about my beauty Idol Marilyn Monroe, I have a real penchant for old school Hollywood Glamour. Im talking 1940’s and 50’s starlets, gorgeous pin curls, curvaceous, hourglass figured pored into tight dresses, red lipstick and flawless skin.

You can then see perhaps, why I’m a such a big fan of Dita Von Teese, a 21st century girl who could easily be mistaken as a star from the golden age of Hollywood.

In fact, im so much of a fan of hers, I attempted to channel her gorgeous style at a recent awards ceremony (I’ll tell you all about this is a later post) but suffice to say even my best efforts could not come close to replicating her signature, stunning look (see below, cringe!)

With a lingerie line, her new exclusive MUSE clothing line and collaboration Kiss nails with already under her belt, this month see’s Dita venture into the world of fragrances, with the launch of her debut perfume, Femme Totale.

The Burlesque beauty describes the fragrance as ‘Elegant, sophisticated and glamorous, with a bit of mystery’, so with that in mind I caught up with her to find out more.

Dita, what made you decide to create your own fragrance?

I’ve always been fascinated by the way that the art of wearing perfume is really vital in order to create glamour, which is really everything that I’m about. Early on I understood that perfume is a very important part of creating your own mystery and glamour – it’s a tool for a woman to become every woman she ever wanted to be. I wore the same perfume for about 20 years, when I actually had an interesting experience.

I was walking down the street in Paris with my boyfriend, who I’ve been dating for two weeks when he asked me, what perfume I wear. When I told him the name of the fragrance he kind of hesitated and revealed that this was also his mother’s perfume. I was thinking “Oh my Gosh, I smell like his mother”.

Dita at the Launch in Germany

This really got me, because I really didn’t want him to associate my smell with his mother, but on the other hand this perfume was perfect and iconic for me, it fit me perfectly and it was mysterious and unknown to everyone I met until that day, so I started hunting for other fragrances that could replace it and there were some which I really liked, but none of them felt like the real me and fit me. So, I decided to create my own scent and this was a dream come true.

How did the name Femme Totale come about?/ What type of woman do you imagine would wear your fragrance?

I think a lot of fragrances on the market are reminders of things from the childhood. Most of them have a girlish, sweet and very juvenile character, however, I wanted something that speaks of wanting to be a grown-up, sophisticated woman, who is in charge of her life. I just love the idea of something that is both: very good, sophisticated and elegant, but also a little bit mysterious, dark and dangerous.

Those two things together become something very special and really magical. I wanted a perfume that feels like that. I often thought about the great women that I admire like Marlene Dietrich or Hedy Lemarr – those sexy, glamorous, iconic women never smelled like vanilla, fruits or candy, I researched it. I heard a lot about people saying “Oh men love vanilla”, but throughout my whole life – and that is one of the reasons why I am who I am now – I never did things to please men, I always did the things for me.

I never took into consideration what men liked, because I think if you wear the fragrance you love you succeed in being glamorous and that is what it really comes down to. You can’t really please others, you have to please yourself, and I think choosing the right perfume is very much about that.

How involved were you in creating the fragrance?

I was very excited about the process of creating a perfume and I enjoyed it a lot. The noses I worked with in Paris probably weren’t expecting me to come bounding through the door at every meeting and wanting to get involved, but it was great to be able to do this, however, also a bit frustrating for me to try to voice and express what I am looking for and the feelings I want to convey with the perfume.

Further, it’s not always easy to bring together things that are super-sophisticated and things that are super dark and moody and sexual at the same time, it’s really tricky. In the end, I wanted something that is really typical me and in tune with who I am.

Did you design the bottle? Where did your inspiration come from for its unique look?

Initially, when people think of me, they think of my side with rhinestones, feathers and of the clichés of Burlesque and striptease, but I had different ideas about how the flacon should be.

I didn’t want a “showgirly” pink perfume, because that is not what I was inspired by. I just didn’t want the bottle to stick with my surface level, because there is something much deeper in my real life, a certain kind of richness and elegance and things that just really feel special and unique.

I wanted to do something very sensual, sleek and simple in a way that relates to the image of a Femme fatale and something adult or womanly, something that reminds me of the vintage perfume bottles that I have.

The flacon of “Dita Von Teese” is something you find in a black satin handbag of a Femme fatale, something sophisticated women would like to carry in their purse, however the tassel and the small emblem, which is refined with a martini glass, feathers and a corset, speak in a subtle way to my Burlesque side.

Modelling one of the dresses from her MUSE Collection

You are a beauty icon to many young women, but do you have a beauty Icon?

Well, one of my favorite style and beauty icons is Marlene Dietrich, because she was very in tune with what her own personal style was. She was very powerful, in control of her image and very knowledgeable of everything she was doing. A lot of my heroes in real life are sort of obscure women whose names a lot of people probably don’t know immediately, because they are not in the limelight or product of a Hollywood stylist.

Film Star Marlene Dietrich, a beauty Icon Dita and i share

My icons are women that I see in me. I’m amazed by their personal sense of style and the way they are daring to dress and wear their make-up differently. So, I have a nice little group of women that I admire and I aspire to be like.

Do you have any plans in the future to extend your fragrance to include a beauty/ cosmetics line?

Every brand that I’m involved with and everything that I’m doing from perfume to lingerie are things that I feel very close to and also very knowledgeable of. Apart of creating a fragrance, I really also would love to get involved in cosmetics and make-up, because I feel strongly related to it. I just want to bring out new products that I really believe in and that I think add beauty to any woman’s life.

Are you chomping at the bit to sample this fragrance now? In which case i would like to apologise as Dita's perfume, while currently available in Germany now will not be available Internationally until spring next year.

7 comments

I hate and avoid celebrity perfumes as a rule, but this may have to be an exception. I wear the fragrance that Dita talks, which is hard to get hold of, so I'll be interested to know how similar her own fragrance will be.